In the fall of 2007, two new running backs stepped onto the Cal campus. Then-senior Justin Forsett christened them The Jet and The Train. Call them what you will, be it transportation-related, be it a one-two punch, be it thunder and lightning. They were fast. Just plain fast.

Jahvid Best and Shane Vereen were the future of the Bears backfield, their destinies to be intertwined in what was supposed to be a renaissance for the Bears football program.

I first met Best and Vereen while writing a feature on the duo for The Daily Californian. I was a senior. They were freshmen. I was going out, and they were coming in.